The Story of COFO (Part Two)
Plans For The Summer Project

The November, 1963 Freedom Vote had proved that Northern, white college students could work effectively in Mississippi, and plans were laid for the Mississippi Summer Project, which involved 900 students, doctors, lawyers and teachers, working in community centers, Freedom Schools, and voter registration programs.

Details were ironed out at large staff meetings. COFO workers believed then, as now, that decisions about projects and techniques in Mississippi are best made by those who live and work there, and not by those unfamiliar with the state.

The Mississippi Freedom Project

What happened in the Summer Project is history: it changed forever both Mississippi and the Movement. When it ended in August, 1964, the Mississippi Freedom Project began immediately. Over 200 volunteers remained in the state to continue voter registration work and keep some of the 32 community centers and 41 Freedom Schools open. Fifty of these volunteers were put on the SNCC staff; the remainder form the Freedom Force, for whom SNCC is attempting to get subsistence pay of $10 a week.

Money

From the beginning, financial support and staff for COFO have come primarily from SNCC and CORE. COFO itself employs no staff, but borrows workers for its programs from cooperating civil rights organizations (At present, 125 of SNCC's staff of 225 are working in Mississippi on COFO projects). In October, 1963 the Voter Education Project (VEP) withdrew its funds from COFO because the statewide organization engaged in "political programs" not allowable under VEP grants. In the fall of 1963 Bob Moses $$Word$$ with Roy Wilkins, Martin Luther King, and James Farmer to solicit their support. SNCC and CORE agreed to contribute money to take up the slack. CORE supports the work in' Mississippi's 4th Congressional District, and SNCC the work in the 1st, 2nd, 3rd, and 5th Districts, supplying staff, cars, and funds.

SCLC has cooperated with COFO's programs through their Citizenship Teacher Program of training local people to become teachers.

Role of the NAACP

The State conference of NAACP branches has supported COFO through its member units. The national NAACP never considered itself a part of COFO, though Dr. Aaron Henry (head of the state conference of NAACP branches) is COFO president. At a national board meeting in January, 1965, the state conference announced it would withdraw its support of COFO: the reason given was non-involvement in decision making. But Aaron Henry reports that he sent notices to each branch chapter every time COFO meetings took place and encouraged them to attend. (COFO meetings are open to all people in Mississippi working on the various aspects of its program.)

The Commission on Religion and Race of the National Council of Churches trained most of the Summer Project volunteers and has directed a steady flow of ministers — acting as counselors — into and out of Mississippi since the project began.

The NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., the National Lawyers Guild and other legal groups have supplied lawyers and legal advice.

"The most important thing about COFO is not its name or its history," a volunteer worker has said, "but that it has been able to involve so many people and groups, both black and white, from Mississippi and elsewhere, in a total program aimed at completely eliminating discrimination and segregation from every corner of the state."